No the stars do not matter, it is whether you hold a PERMANENT ID card or not.
I know this as I have 4 friends who have just gone through either stage 1 or 2 and only 1 of them has the 3 stars on the ID card.
I too have gone through the cadet process and I do not hold the '***' on my permanent HKID card.
Last edited by schweizer2; 27th May 2013 at 12:18.